There are many situations where removable electrical connectors can be accidentally bumped or otherwise displaced from positive electrical connection with their complementary mounted connector contacts. Many connectors include screw-type lock down devices which provide the locking engagement between male and female connector elements (removable and mounted connectors).
There are times, however, when the design of one of the complementary connector elements is such that presently available and conventional techniques for locking the complementary parts together cannot be used. Even when present day techniques are used, the time necessary to screw the mating parts together and unscrew them when disconnection is desired, can be irritating.
One prior art solution to the locking of a ribbon cable removable connector to the mounted compatible connector uses a sliding locking mechanism which is incompatible with known EMI solutions. Such a sliding/locking mechanism has been found to be difficult to operate and extremely hard to use when there is a crowded backplane.
A specific situation arises in connection with the use of a 50 pin subminiature D backplane or mounted connector that in some instances may be connected to a grounded EMI/RFI shielded removable connector in situations which require EMI/RFI shielding, and in other situations, may be connected to a non-shielded ribbon cable connector. While parts are available, "off the shelf", to connect the grounded connector to the backplane connector, the width of a ribbon cable connector and the design of such, makes the application of positive locking screws on the removable portion of the complementary connector parts, a physical impossibility.